WIST Quotations

Hugo, Victor -- William Shakespeare, Part 1, Book 2 “Men of Genius [Les Génies], ch. 2 (1.2.2) (1864) [tr. Baillot (1864)]

Dave — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:26:59 +0000

That posterity may be a rising instead of a setting star is man’s consolation. Time present works for time to come. Work, then, and hope.

[Que l’avenir soit un orient au lieu d’être un couchant, c’est la consolation de l’homme. Le temps présent travaille au temps futur, donc travaillez et espérez.]

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
William Shakespeare, Part 1, Book 2 “Men of Genius [Les Génies], ch. 2 (1.2.2) (1864) [tr. Baillot (1864)]

Speaking of Ezekiel's message in the Bible, as one of what Hugo considered the great authors/poets of history. (Source (French)). Another translation:

It is man's consolation that the future is to be a sunrise instead of a sunset. Time presents works for time to come; work, then, and hope!
[tr. Anderson (1886)]

Dickens, Charles -- Speech (1841-06-25), Shakespeare Club Dinner, Waterloo Rooms, Edinburgh, Scotland

Dave — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 16:19:43 +0000

I felt an earnest and humble desire, and shall do till I die, to increase the stock of harmless cheerfulness.

Charles Dickens (1812–1870) English writer and social critic
Speech (1841-06-25), Shakespeare Club Dinner, Waterloo Rooms, Edinburgh, Scotland

Euripides -- Electra [Ἠλέκτρα], l. 985ff (c. 420 BC) [tr. Wilson (2016)]

Dave — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 16:58:19 +0000

ORESTES: I’ll go. I’ll start to do this dreadful thing, this horror. Yes, I will. If it’s the gods’ will, I’ll do it. But I take no joy in it.

[ὈΡΈΣΤΗΣ: ἔσειμι: δεινοῦ δ᾽ ἄρχομαι προβλήματος
καὶ δεινὰ δράσω γε — εἰ θεοῖς δοκεῖ τάδε,
ἔστω: πικρὸν δὲ χἡδὺ τἀγώνισμά μοι.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Electra [Ἠλέκτρα], l. 985ff (c. 420 BC) [tr. Wilson (2016)]

Orestes going to kill his mother, Clytemnestra, who was, along with the already-killed Aegisthus, the murderer of his father, Agamemnon.

Interestingly, earlier translations have him characterize the task as both bitter and sweet; later ones only speak of its bitterness.

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

I go in.
Tho' I am entering on a deed that's fraught
With horror, I will execute the deed;
Thus let it be, if thus the righteous Gods
Ordain: altho' this conflict to my soul
At the same time be bitter, and yet sweet.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

I will go in; it is a dreadful task I am beginning and I will do dreadful things. If the gods approve, let it be; to me the contest is bitter and also sweet.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

I will enter in; but I am beginning a dreadful attempt. Ay, and I shall do dreadful things; but if this seems fit to the Gods, let it be; but the contest is for me [at once] bitter and sweet.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]

I will go in. A horror I essay!
Yea, horrors will achieve! If this please Heaven,
So be it. Bitter strife, yet sweet, for me.
[tr. Way (1896)]

Aye. So be it. -- I have ta'en
A path of many terrors: and shall do
Deeds horrible. 'Tis God will have it so. ...
Is this the joy of battle, or wild woe?
[tr. Murray (1905)]

I will go in; 'tis an awful task I undertake; an awful deed I have to do; still if it is Heaven's will, be it so; I loathe and yet I love the enterprise.
[tr. Coleridge (1938 ed.)]

Fine. I am going inside. Terrible the deed I shall begin and frightening the deeds I shall accomplish. If this is liked by the gods then so be it. My battle is bitter, not sweet.
[tr. Theodoridis (2006)]

I’ll go in.
I’m on the verge of a horrendous act,
something truly dreadful. Well, so be it,
if gods approve of this. And yet, for me
the contest is not sweet at all, but bitter.
[tr. Johnston (2009)]

Arbuckle, Fatty -- “Fatty Off Guard,” interview by Elizabeth Sears (1916)

Dave — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 18:49:10 +0000

I don’t believe there is any finer mission on earth than just to make people laugh.

Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (1887–1933) American silent film actor, comedian, director, screenwriter
“Fatty Off Guard,” interview by Elizabeth Sears (1916)

Taylor, Barbara Brown -- Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, Part 3 (2006)

Dave — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 15:14:21 +0000

What if people were invited to come tell what they already know of God instead of to learn what they are supposed to believe? What if they were blessed for what they are doing in the world instead of chastened for not doing more at church? What if church felt more like a way station than a destination? What if the church’s job were to move people out the door instead of trying to keep them in, by convincing them that God needed them more in the world than in the church?

Barbara Brown Taylor (b. 1951) American minister, academic, author
Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, Part 3 (2006)

Deming, W. Edwards -- The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education, ch. 3 “Introduction to a System” (1993)

Dave — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 18:53:41 +0000

A system must be managed. It will not manage itself. Left to themselves in the Western world, components become selfish, competitive, independent profit centres, and thus destroy the system. The secret is cooperation between components toward the aim of the organization. We can not afford the destructive effect of competition.

W. Edwards Deming (1900–1993) American management consultant, educator
The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education, ch. 3 “Introduction to a System” (1993)

Eisenhower, Dwight David -- Speech, Fourth Annual Republican Women’s National Conference, Washington, DC (6 Mar 1956)

Dave — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:53:26 +0000

If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general, US President (1953–61)
Speech, Fourth Annual Republican Women’s National Conference, Washington, DC (6 Mar 1956)

Ackerman, Diane -- “In Praise of Bats,” The Moon by Whale Light (1991)

Dave — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 20:18:13 +0000

One of the things I like best about animals in the wild is that they’re always off on some errand. They have appointments to keep. It’s only we humans who wonder what we’re here for.

Diane Ackerman (b. 1948) American poet, author, naturalist
“In Praise of Bats,” The Moon by Whale Light (1991)

Stross, Charles -- The Annihilation Score, ch. 16 (2015)

Dave — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 00:27:59 +0000

Most of the activities of any bureaucracy are devoted not to the organization’s ostensible goals, but to ensuring that the organization survives: because if they aren’t, the bureaucracy has a life expectancy measured in days before some idiot decision maker decides that if it’s no use to them they can make political hay by destroying it. It’s no consolation that some time later someone will realize that an organization was needed to carry out the original organization’s task, so a replacement is created: you still lost your job and the task went undone. The only sure way forward is to build an agency that looks to its own survival before it looks to its mission statement. Just another example of evolution in action.

Charles "Charlie" Stross (b. 1964) British writer
The Annihilation Score, ch. 16 (2015)

Kingsley, Charles -- Letter, “To a lady who consulted him about Sisterhoods” (24 Jul 1854)

Dave — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 01:44:48 +0000

Let us be content to do little, if God sets us at little tasks. It is but pride and self-will which says, “Give me something huge to fight, — and I should enjoy that — but why make me sweep the dust?”

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) English clergyman, historian, essayist, novelist (pseud. "Parson Lot")
Letter, “To a lady who consulted him about Sisterhoods” (24 Jul 1854)

Buck, Pearl S. -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 03:12:31 +0000

We send missionaries to China so the Chinese can get to heaven, but we won’t let them into our country.

Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American writer
(Attributed)

Quoted in Clifton Fadiman, The American Treasury: 1455-1955 (1955).

Nicoll, James -- “Another question about expectations,” rec.arts.sf.written, Usenet (22 May 2005)

Dave — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 14:53:19 +0000

We discovered at one point that the brick wall of the pillar would hold up a sock pretty well. This led to sorting socks by putting them on the wall, which in turn led to mosaics built entirely of socks. Mission drift is a hazard in all pursuits, including doing the laundry.

James Nicoll (b. 1961) Canadian reviewer, editor
“Another question about expectations,” rec.arts.sf.written, Usenet (22 May 2005)

Moore, Ronald D. -- Battlestar Galactica, 1×02 “Water” [Adama] (2004)

Dave — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 14:27:50 +0000

There is a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.

Ronald D. Moore (b. 1964) American screenwriter, television producer
Battlestar Galactica, 1×02 “Water” [Adama] (2004)

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard’s Almanack (Oct 1758)

Dave — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 17:08:38 +0000

To serve the Public faithfully, and at the same time please it entirely, is impracticable.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Oct 1758)

Wotton, Henry -- Reliquiae Wottonainae (1651)

Dave — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 13:00:04 +0000

An Ambassador is an honest man, sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.

[Legatus est vir bonus, peregrè missus ad mentiendum Reipublicae causâ.]

Henry Wotton (1568–1639) English author, diplomat, politician
Reliquiae Wottonainae (1651)

Wotton wrote in an apology to Velserus in 1612, that during his travel through Augsburg in 1604, "This merry definition of an ambassador I had chanced to set down at my friend's, Mr. Christopher Fleckamore, in his Album". It seems to have been intended as a pun when translated to English. Sometimes translated as "An ambassador is an honest gentleman sent to lie abroad for the good of his country."

Wilder, Laura Ingalls -- Little Town on the Prairie (1941)

Dave — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 14:47:26 +0000

The trouble with organizing a thing is that pretty soon folks get to paying more attention to the organization than to what they’re organized for.

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) American writer
Little Town on the Prairie (1941)

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1874-05-03), “Heretics and Heresies,” Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago

Dave — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:35:56 +0000

I do not say, and I do not believe, that Christians are as bad as their creeds. In spite of church and dogma, there have been millions and millions of men and women true to the loftiest and most generous promptings of the human heart. They have been true to their convictions, and, with a self-denial and fortitude excelled by none, have labored and suffered for the salvation of men. Imbued with the spirit of self-sacrifice, believing that by personal effort they could rescue at least a few souls from the infinite shadow of hell, they have cheerfully endured every hardship and scorned every danger.
And yet, notwithstanding all this, they believed that honest error was a crime. They knew that the Bible so declared, and they believed that all unbelievers would be eternally lost. They believed that religion was of God, and all heresy of the devil. They killed heretics in defense of their own souls and the souls of their children. They killed them because, according to their idea, they were the enemies of God, and because the Bible teaches that the blood of the unbeliever is a most acceptable sacrifice to heaven.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1874-05-03), “Heretics and Heresies,” Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago

Collected in The Gods and Other Lectures (1876).

Coffin, William Sloane -- Credo, “Faith, Hope, and Love” (2004)

Dave — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:36:43 +0000

We must guard against being too individualistic and elitist in our understanding of spirituality. Some Christians talk endlessly about the importance of one’s interior life and how to develop it more fully, forgetting that Christ is born to bring hope and joy also to whole communities of people — the exiles, the deported, the tortured, the silenced.

William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (1924–2006) American minister, social activist
Credo, “Faith, Hope, and Love” (2004)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Remark (1865-02) to Joshua Speed

Dave — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:16:13 +0000

Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
Remark (1865-02) to Joshua Speed

Recorded in a letter (1866-01-12) from Speed to William H. Herndon, reprinted in Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis (ed.), Herndon’s Informants (1998). The date is based on Speed recalling the incident around the remark being "about ten days previous to his last inauguration" (1865-03-04).

Francis of Assisi -- “Prayer of St Francis” (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 29 Jun 2004 14:46:13 +0000

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace!
Where there is hatred let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) Italian Franciscan mystic, reformer, saint [b. Giovanni di Pietro di Bunardone]
“Prayer of St Francis” (Attributed)

The poem (in French) appears to date back no further than 1912, and was first misattributed to St. Francis in 1927. The first English translation (as above) is in 1936. More information on its origin here and here. The original French (La Clochette magazine, #12 (Dec 1912):

Belle prière à faire pendant la Messe
Seigneur, faites de moi un instrument de votre paix.
Là où il y a l'offense, que je mette le pardon.
Là où il y a la discorde, que je mette l'union.
Là où il y a l'erreur, que je mette la vérité.
Là où il y a le doute, que je mette la foi.
Là où il y a le désespoir, que je mette l'espérance.
Là où il y a les ténèbres, que je mette votre lumière.
Là où il y a la tristesse, que je mette la joie.
Ô Maître, que je ne cherche pas tant à être consolé qu'à consoler, à être compris qu'à comprendre, à être aimé qu'à aimer, car c'est en donnant qu'on reçoit, c'est en s'oubliant qu'on trouve, c'est en pardonnant qu'on est pardonné, c'est en mourant qu'on ressuscite à l'éternelle vie.

King, Martin Luther -- Speech, Detroit (23 Jun 1963)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

If a man hasn’t discovered something that he would die for, he isn’t fit to live.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Speech, Detroit (23 Jun 1963)

Tolkien, J.R.R. -- The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 3: The Return of the King, Book 5, ch. 9 “The Last Debate” [Gandalf] (1955)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

Other evils there are that may come; for Sauron is himself but a servant or emissary. Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 3: The Return of the King, Book 5, ch. 9 “The Last Debate” [Gandalf] (1955)

Bach, Richard -- Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, ch. 15, epigraph (1977)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Here’s a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t.

Richard Bach (b. 1936) American writer
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, ch. 15, epigraph (1977)